by JPeters | June 20, 2025 11:38 am
A divorce can become extremely complex (and sometimes more contentious) when significant assets are involved. Without skilled guidance, the process can quickly become a lengthy, public, and litigated muddle that diminishes the outcome—both emotionally and financially—for both parties. Similarly, competent counsel can ensure the client properly understands the complexities and nuances involved in high-net-worth divorces and those involving complex assets.
In most high-net-worth divorces, you’ll need advisors — other than your attorney — and building your advisor team will take some time. Your team might include financial planners, tax advisors, and other attorneys, perhaps those that practice in the estate planning, tax, corporate, or employment areas, who can assist in the legal issues that arise in many high-net-worth divorces and those involving complex assets, like businesses, assets held in sophisticated trusts, nontraditional investments, and/or complex real estate holdings.
Finding competent counsel soon for a high-net worth divorce can assist in assembling this team of professionals, who, in some instances, will work in concert to achieve an efficient resolution of a complex divorce matter.
When dividing trust assets, offshore assets, extensive real estate holdings, and/or businesses, a divorce can involve various areas of law and raise significant financial and/or tax issues that are crucial for the client to properly understand to make decisions in the divorce process. This adds considerable complexity to the divorce process. Inevitably, some aspects of a high-net-worth divorce become challenging. Even if you have a prenuptial or postnuptial agreement[1], these agreements can be challenged and often are in divorces involving high-net-worth marital estates and high earners.
Significant assets bring inevitable complexity to divorce, which is why speaking with an attorney early in the process is so important. With guidance, a fair and equitable outcome is achievable.
Finding Counsel
The first and most crucial step when preparing for any divorce[2], but certainly those involving a high net-worth marital estate, is to speak with a lawyer with regular experience working with clients who are high earners (or are married to high earners) and divorces involving high net- worth marital estates and potentially complex assets.
In finding such a lawyer, your own trusted professionals may have good referrals to divorce lawyers they work with and trust. Industry accolades from prestigious organizations like Best Lawyers[3] and Super Lawyers [4]can also be an indicator of competence. These organizations recognize individual attorneys based on peer reviews and professional achievements.
In vetting a divorce lawyer, you may consider asking your potential lawyer their experience with matters like yours and any relevant resources they have for your case. This can include our attorney’s relationships with other professionals with whom they consult on cases that need additional support, like forensic accountants, appraisers, and lawyers that practice other areas of law.
As you search for an attorney, you may wish to consider how you’d like to move through the process. Divorces process you can be settlement oriented, work through the Collaborative law process, and/or be fully ligated to trial.
Perhaps most importantly, you want to work with an attorney who you can trust, who can assist you — with calm, logical, and clear explanations — through the process with strategic and creative problem solving. Dealing with the totality of the process — ongoing financial disclosures, tax implications, business and real estate valuations, and decisions on parenting (formerly known as child custody), child support, alimony, and/or property division issues—can seem overwhelming, whether a divorce is settlement oriented or more contentious. A competent divorce lawyer can make this easier to manage through appropriate support and guidance that allows you to understand not only the process but what decisions should be made throughout it to achieve your goals for your desired post-divorce chapter.
The attorney’s role
The family law group at Orr & Reno regularly negotiates and litigates complex high-net-worth divorce cases with the assistance of our other practice groups as needed. Our role is to make the divorce process more manageable by identifying the key financial decisions that need to be made and the potential risks involved when making these decisions. Our experienced and collaboratively trained attorneys and mediators — alongside financial and other professionals — regularly resolve high net-worth divorce disputes amicably while protecting the couple’s privacy and financial interests as desired and feasible.
If you are considering divorce and interested in learning more about your legal options — and the immediate actions you should take to protect your interests — don’t hesitate to contact the Orr & Reno Family Law Group for a complimentary consultation.
Nicole A. Forbes[5]
Source URL: https://orr-reno.com/high-net-worth-divorce/
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